Conference Wars: Clemson Coach Brad Brownell Called Out The Big 12 For Manipulating The System So They Have More Teams In The NCAA Tournament

Ah, it's the most wonderful time of the year. The time when coaches across the country (mostly just the ACC these days) love to bitch and moan about this stuff. The Big 12 gamed the NET system to make them look better! You should simply beat bad teams by 40-50 points to make yourself look good. Here's the truth and it's 2 things:

1. The Big 12 had a shit nonconference schedule

2. Brad Brownell bitching about this is pointless. People said he did it because they missed the Tournament last year (mind you they lost to FOUR teams ranked 170 or worse) or that ACC teams on the bubble this year aren't getting the benefit of the doubt. Uh, who exactly? 

Here's the most important part. You can't take past NCAA Tournament success dictate what you think of a conference in the current year. Just because Miami made the Final Four last year doesn't mean an ACC team deserves a bid over someone else. It means quite literally nothing. If that was the case there'd be like 3 Big 10 teams in, Arizona and no other team from the west. 

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The bigger issue is how the Tournament is set up. I'm not talking 1 game and advance, shit I'm not even talking about the NET. I'm talking about the fact we have AD's on the committee. We need people who actually understand basketball, can see what's going on, watches games and can look at some numbers like the NET/quadrants. It's not the end-all, be-all, it's supposed to be a guide. 

Not to mention, if you're going to cry about the Big 12 doing this, why wouldn't you? Little secret is, teams can schedule whoever the hell they want in their nonconference. Sometimes it works out like this, sometimes it fails. I mean Clemson had 4 quad 4 nonconference games. Just win them by 50. Not to mention, WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHO THE FUCK IS IN THE TOURNAMENT. That's sort of lost in this whole argument. The bracket isn't out, not like we can scream the ACC got screwed. 

I do admire Brownell's dedication to the bit of sounding like a fan and bringing up the record against the Big 12 like it's bowl season. Smart to leave out the record vs all the other major conferences. That's how you pick and choose stats to win an argument. New idea for the ACC though that will probably help. Make sure Louisville, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, etc all don't suck. That's a good place to start.